Maryland Public Television

In 2003, the Governor of Maryland appointed Tom Chairman of the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission.  The eleven member commission has oversight responsibility of Maryland Public Television (MPT), an independent state agency with 250 employees and a $35 million annual budget.  Less than one-third of the annual budget consists of state funding, with the remainder provided through program underwriting and viewer contributions.  MPT provides statewide broadcasting to 1.1 million Maryland viewers across the state as well as viewers in the District of Columbia, and parts of northern Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania.  In addition to broadcasting national public television programs (PBS), MPT produced national programming for PBS such as “Wall Street Week” and “Motor Week”.